extinction in biology, the dying out or termination of a species. Extinction occurs when species are diminished because of environmental forces (habitat fragmentation, global change, overexploitation of species for human use) or because of evolutionary changes in their members (genetic inbreeding, poor reproduction, decline in population numbers).

Rates of extinction are selective. For example, during the last 100,000 years of the Pleistocene Epoch (about 1.8 million to 11,800 years ago), some 40 percent of the existing genera of large mammals in Africa and more than 70 percent in North America, South America, and Australia were extinguished.

Mass extinction events

Although extinction is an ongoing feature of the Earth’s flora and fauna (the vast majority of species ever to have lived are extinct), the fossil record reveals the occurrence of a number of unusually large extinctions, each involving the demise of vast numbers of species. These conspicuous declines in diversity are referred to as mass extinctions; they are distinguished from the majority of extinctions, which occur continually and are referred to as background extinction. Five mass extinctions can be distinguished from the fossil record. Ranked in descending order of severity, they are:

Permian extinction (about 266 million to 251 million years ago), the most dramatic die-off, eliminating about half of all families, some 95 percent of marine species (nearly wiping out brachiopods and corals), and about 70 percent of land species (including plants, insects, and vertebrates).Ordovician-Silurian extinction (about 444 million years ago), which included about 25 percent of marine families and 85 percent of marine species, with brachiopods, conodonts, bryozoans, and trilobites suffering greatly.K-T, or Cretaceous-Tertiary. , extinction (about 65 million years ago), involving about 80 percent of all animal species, including the dinosaurs and many species of plants. The Although many scientists contend that this event was probably caused by a large comet or asteroid striking Earth, others maintain that it was caused by climatic changes associated with the substantial volcanic activity of the time.End-Triassic extinction (about 200 million years ago), possibly caused by rapid climate change or by an asteroid striking the Earth. This mass extinction event caused about 20 percent of marine families and some 76 percent of all extant species to die out, possibly within a span of about 10,000 years, thus opening up numerous ecological niches into which the dinosaurs evolved. Devonian extinctions (407 million to 359 million years ago), which included 15–20 percent of marine families and 70–80 percent of all animal species. Roughly 86 percent of marine brachiopod species perished, along with many corals, conodonts, and trilobites.

In essence, mass extinctions are unusual because of the large numbers of taxa that die out, the concentrated time frame, the widespread geographic area affected, and the many different kinds of animals and plants eliminated. In addition, the mechanisms of mass extinction are different from those of background extinctions.

Human-induced extinctions

Many species have become extinct because of human destruction of their natural environments. Indeed, current rates of human-induced extinctions are estimated to be about 1,000 times greater than past natural (background) rates of extinction, leading some scientists to call modern times the sixth mass extinction. This high extinction rate is largely due to the exponential growth in human numbers: from about 1 billion in 1850, the world’s population reached 2 billion in 1930 and more than 6 billion in 2000, and it is expected to reach about 10 billion by 2050. As a result of increasing human populations, habitat loss is the greatest factor in current levels of extinction. For example, less than one-sixth of the land area of Europe has remained unmodified by human activity, and more than half of all wildlife habitat has been eliminated in more than four-fifths of countries in the paleotropics. In addition, increased levels of greenhouse gases have begun to alter the world’s climate, with slowly increasing temperatures expected by the middle of the 21st century to force species to migrate 200–300 km (about 125–185 miles) farther north in the northern temperate zone in order to remain in habitats with the same climate conditions. Overexploitation from hunting and harvesting also has adversely affected many species. For example, about 20 million tropical fish and 12 million corals are harvested annually for the aquarium trade, depleting natural populations in some parts of the world.

All these factors have increased the numbers of threatened species: almost one in four mammal species and one in eight bird species were considered at significant risk of extinction at the start of the 21st century.